NEW DELHI: As COVID-19 pandemic continues to severely affect millions of lives across India, Royal Enfield, the global leader in the mid-size motorcycle segment, has strengthened its commitment to aid the country’s fight against the pandemic.
Royal Enfield’s initiatives focus on building long term medical infrastructure, aiding remote and rural communities, and enabling local administrations with immediate response measures. Given the magnitude of the second wave and its subsequent impact, Royal Enfield has identified strategic medium and long term programs that are inspired by UN’s COVID-19 response framework- Build Back Better.
Royal Enfield has committed Rs. 20 crores, in addition to Rs. 50 crores committed last year by Eicher Group to support relief and rehabilitation efforts.
In addition to working with state governments and NGOs across Delhi NCR and Tamil Nadu, the earmarked amount is being distributed under the following key areas and initiatives:
Building sustainable medical support
In line with its vision to build long term and sustainable solutions, Royal Enfield, in association with Ekam Foundation has commissioned an Oxygen Manifold Plant at Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Royal Enfield is also enabling access to oxygen generators for 6 government hospitals in Tamil Nadu. It is also procuring and supplying critical care equipment to 6 government and 2 charitable hospitals and 30 Public Healthcare Centers in Tamil Nadu.
Supporting livelihoods and aid for remote regions
Royal Enfield has committed to supporting the communities in rural and remote areas where medical infrastructure and aid are in severe short supply. Several of these geographies have hosted Royal Enfield riders over the years with their rich natural heritage and indigineous cultures. It is working with district administrations in Leh, Ladakh, Kullu and Keylong in Himachal Pradesh to procure and supply oxygen concentrators and oxygen cylinders in several government and charitable hospitals.
Royal Enfield is supporting GOONJ in its RAHAT- COVID initiative that is a long-term program towards rebuilding communities in remote areas. As part of this comprehensive relief program, Royal Enfield will be facilitating outreach to several parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, in some cases even with the support of the Indian Army. Given its legacy with the Armed Forces, Royal Enfield is also honoured to be able to support the Indian Army with 100 Oxygen concentrators, COVID-19 kits and other key medical consumables in their relief work.
With its focus on building sustainable communities that are better equipped to deal with the pandemic, Royal Enfield has initiated several livelihood initiatives for families that lost means of livelihood during the initial wave of the pandemic. Towards this, it has partnered with CARE India to empower and train over 500 women on collectivisation and entrepreneurship in Vallam Vadagal, Tamil Nadu.
Royal Enfield has helped over 39,000 families pan India with access to essential commodities since last year.
Immediate relief
Royal Enfield has made a contribution of INR 2 crores to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. This amount is being strategically deployed by the state government to enable access to medical aid and consumables as well as for livelihood support programs for millions impacted by the pandemic in Tamil Nadu. It also supported the Delhi Government with INR 1 crore towards procurement of oxygen cylinders when the pandemic was raging in NCR. Additionally, Royal Enfield has been working with the governments of Delhi and Haryana to support government and charitable hospitals with oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators and medical consumables. It has set up a 25 bed, COVID care facility at Dr. Shroff Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi. It is also creating an Oxygen concentrator bank in partnership with the Clothes Box foundation.
Royal Enfield has also announced a host of initiatives with a focus on employee care, safety and well-being. Apart from a dedicated COVID-19 insurance policy, vaccination sponsorship and onsite vaccination camps, Royal Enfield has also launched V-care, a 24X7 platform for virtual medical teleconsultation and psychological counselling for its employees.
This is complemented by a central COVID-19 Command Centre equipped with an emergency response team for on-ground support across multiple locations. A 70-bed COVID-19 care facility and isolation centre has been set-up at Perungudi (Chennai) for employees testing positive and needing medical assistance (mild and moderate cases).
Royal Enfield has also introduced a series of financial assistance measures in the unfortunate event of an employee losing their life to COVID-19. These include an insurance cover of three times the employee’s salary under Group Term Life Insurance, disbursement of the current salary of the employee for a period of 2 years to their immediate family, financial support for educational assistance of the concerned employee’s children and an opportunity for them to avail vocational training at Royal Enfield amongst other programs.
Royal Enfield continues to assess the impact of its initiatives and will take further steps to contribute towards employee wellbeing as well community recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the medium and long term.
The oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production, Royal Enfield has created beautifully crafted motorcycles since 1901. From its British roots, a manufacturing plant was established in Madras in 1955, a foothold from which Royal Enfield spearheaded the growth of India’s mid-sized two-wheeler segment. Royal Enfields are engaging, uncomplicated, accessible, and fun to ride; a vehicle for exploration and self-expression. It’s an approach the brand calls Pure Motorcycling.
